The Iranian regime’s judiciary’s recent sentencing of six political prisoners to death has sparked widespread international outrage. These individuals—Abolhassan Montazer, Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani-Amerian, Babak Alipour, Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar, and Mohammad Taghavi—have been accused of affiliations with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). These sentences follow months of harsh interrogation and torture in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Global human rights organizations and politicians have united to condemn the death sentences. They stress the urgency of international intervention to halt these executions and spotlight the broader human rights violations in Iran.
In a statement, the British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) demanded immediate international action to prevent the executions, denouncing the use of politically motivated charges to suppress dissent. “The international community has a moral obligation to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and demand an end to the regime’s systemic violations of human rights,” the statement reads in part.
In a letter the Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights situation in Iran, more than 150 international experts, Nobel laureates, and NGOs, underscored the parallels between the current executions and past atrocities of the Iranian regime, particularly the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
“The ongoing atrocities in Iran are a result of the culture of impunity that exists, and thus urgent international action is needed to tackle this issue,” the signatories write. “We urge you to publicly condemn these death sentences, demanding their immediate reversal and the protection of these political prisoners.”
In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ), an organization representing a coalition of more than 4,000 lawmakers, condemned the sentences as politically motivated acts aimed at suppressing dissent and urged UN intervention. They called for the immediate halt to the executions and the unconditional release of political prisoners in Iran.
“The UN has always stood as a beacon for human rights and democratic values, and at this critical moment, your leadership can help prevent a grave injustice and potentially save the lives of those who are merely exercising their right to freedom of expression and association,” the lawmakers write.
The France-based Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme (NDH) decried the executions as inhumane and emblematic of a judicial system used to perpetuate repression. They called on the EU and UN to act immediately. “These sentences, the result of interrogations under torture and sham trials, reflect the desperation of a regime clinging to power through terror,” the statement reads.
In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights situation in Iran, Hands Off Cain, an international anti-death penalty group, condemned the executions and urged the renewal of a universal moratorium on capital punishment. They cited the sentences as part of a historical pattern of systemic repression against PMOI members.
“Hands off Cain calls on you to take immediate action to save these six prisoners’ lives and secure the release of all political prisoners as well as to renew the appeal for the introduction of a moratorium on all the capital executions in Iran,” the letter reads in part.
The death sentences for these six Iranian political prisoners have galvanized international outrage. Human rights organizations, legal experts, and political entities have called for decisive global action, emphasizing the Iranian regime’s consistent abuse of judicial processes to eliminate dissent. Their appeals demand the immediate cessation of these executions and highlight the ongoing struggle for justice and democracy in Iran. A unified international response is now seen as critical to saving these lives and holding the Iranian regime accountable.